Tales from The Room of Doom. Dipping a toe in various bucolic backwaters.

[Kane Clements]

That's good to know Simon as I did a pre-order with Rails for a DC Arthur.
As I was away last week I had to ask Rails to hold it so it won't go out until today.
I have my fingers crossed.
Rodney

My Open cab maroon was tested by L & B. Run in last night. Sweet. Bombay from Rails arrived yesterday. Again run in and smooth. Lucked in! Both DC.

 

[Captain Kernow]

I gave my open cab red one a good running in on the DRAG test track last night and it seemed quite a sweet running. Will probably put it on the rolling road too, together with the others.

 

[Flaxfield]

An update...of sorts.

I chatted with Rapido today. Very supportive and very concerned that there are issues with these. The return of the sick lame and lazy has been arranged and I have just had an update that my noisy SE&CR 331 is enroute.

Perhaps of note, I tested a sound fitted job in work. Perfect. A most superb runner with none of the gremlins that the DCC ready jobs that I have had contact with.

Sadly, we do not have any in stock that I would be interested in.....but there may be a plan.

R

 

[paulhb]

Good to hear Rapido are concerned about the issues. Acquired the red open top MW thinking would be a great addition to Ruyton after conversion and news at Railex about possibility of suitable wheels and axles was encouraging.

But but but….on the rollers for extensive running in and although it runs well when it gets going, it failed at any sort of smooth slow running and smooth start and stop. These are my basic requirements for any loco and must be achieved in DC. Extensive wheel cleaning and removal of much crud made little difference. When running (stumbling) slow there is also a sound that possibly indicates the worm and gears are out of sync.

Disappointing as it’s a lovely model but off back its going.

Paul

 

[Flaxfield]

Good to hear Rapido are concerned about the issues. Acquired the red open top MW thinking would be a great addition to Ruyton after conversion and news at Railex about possibility of suitable wheels and axles was encouraging.

But but but….on the rollers for extensive running in and although it runs well when it gets going, it failed at any sort of smooth slow running and smooth start and stop. These are my basic requirements for any loco and must be achieved in DC. Extensive wheel cleaning and removal of much crud made little difference. When running (stumbling) slow there is also a sound that possibly indicates the worm and gears are out of sync.

Disappointing as it’s a lovely model but off back its going.

Paul

Hi Paul.

I'm sorry to hear of your woes but in a perverse way, I'm glad that I am not alone in my concerns..

I have just bitten a rather large bullet, and buoyed by my sound fitted experience today, I've ordered sound fitted Bombay.

Fingers crossed this is not another example of throwing good money after bad but the running of the sound fitted Arthur was so good........

It was my original intention to go sound fitted from the outset, so perhaps all of this could have been avoided if one had stuck to plan A..........

We shall see......

Rob

 

[John Bruce]

After reading some of the forgoing I thought I'd give my MW a run as I've not even tried it since receiving it last Thursday. My initial check on my 00 industrial line was interesting in as much as it wasn't too bad forwards, but backwards whoaaa, terrible noise like a pickup catching spokes on a wheel. A quick visual check revealed nothing amiss so it was on to the rollers!
Around about half an hour each way and a retest on the track revealed the noise had gone but it's running still left something to be desired, so on to a comparison test against my Rapido fireless (which has not been run in to any degree at all) and I'm afraid it knocked spots off the MW certainly for quiet slow speed running. More running in is needed methinks.

John Bruce.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

After reading the tales of woe it appears to me there is something more fundamental at work and manufacturers need to take a step back to look at significantly improving their quality control processes at the factory before the models are released and not rely upon the retailer and customer to subsequently find a an inferior model. From what I can gather it's not the first time this has occurred with Rapido and others, and granted there are 'Friday afternoon' models but with some manufacturers it appears every day is a Friday.

From my own observations I think another contributory factor is that a lot of new models are over-engineered and over-designed, with access for maintenance and decoder installation either appearing as afterthought or made unnecessarily inconvenient. Especially when there are consumers with mixed abilities and skills.

I experienced an issue recently when my dad complained about a poor running brand new Rapido SECR O1. When I overhauled it for him the problem turned out to be the powdery residue left by the chemical blackening on the tender wheels, which after cleaning resolved the issue. In my opinion this should have been picked up by quality control and dealt with at the factory - not the end user.

 

[RodneyS]

My DC 'Arthur' arrived today and with some trepidation I unpacked it and put it on my short length of test track.
It is lovely, smooth and quiet in both directions straight from the box.

There is some excess oil on the keeper plate but I rubbed a tissue over the wheels and there was hardly any dirt.
Rodney